Customer Reviews

Terrific Pacific Cookbook

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been through a lot of Asian Cookbooks but this is one that I keep comming back to for new and orginal reciepes.

Asian Fusion is the Theme, particularly Southest Asia. Thai, Indonesia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Fusion Recepies from Australia and New Zenland dot the pages as well as receipies that are had to classify other than really good. They blend ingredients and techniques for some awesome dishes.

The book is more or less organized by theme and ingredient, finger foods, poultry, deserts, salads, soups etc.
In addition to the organization of the book the receipies are organized in a reasonable fashion as well. To many cook books haphazardly organize the steps and ingredients so that you miss something or do it out of sequence (oh, I was supposed to boil this first).

This is not a book for beginners though. The reciepies here are generally moderate to very complex and are generally not the sort of thing you throw together at the last minute. Not to say they don't have some quick and easy ones but the theme is more towards those with gormet inclinations and farmiliarity with Asian cooking already.

One downside to the book is they assume you have access to an incredible variety of ethnic ingredients. In Austin we have Asian Markets and Central Market (an awesome store that specializes in gormet ingredients) but from time to time I find myself unable to locate something needed for some dishes. I've learned some substitutions. Also some of the reciepies can run up your food bill a bit. They are best left for those yearly special occasions.

Still its an EXCELLENT cookbook. Every time I get bored I go back to it and find something new and interesting. Its just loaded with great stuff. Buy it, you won't regret.

Full of unusual but consistently reliable recipes. This cookbook is now owned by many of my friends and my extended family. We get together and have Terrific Pacific potlucks several times a year. Although the recipes are sometimes complicated, their flavors are memorable. This cookbook makes a wonderful gift for the electic, experienced chef.

I'm a cookbook junkie, and I have dozens of books I just look at and never actually cook from. This isn't one of them. It's stained and dog-eared, from trying exotic but not terribly difficult recipes like Pot Roast with Asian flavors, stir-fried spinach and a terrific pineapple upside-down cafe with rummy, coconutty whipped cream. A great way to cook Asian without resorting to fattening, take-out-style recipes. The small sections about markets in Southeast Asia and such are also good...they make you want to try this food in person!

I've been making Thai Drumsticks for a Crowd for potlucks for the last two years. They're a real draw on a table full of tahini and tabouli! These recipes are easy and the authors descriptions are engaging. Not for people who are looking for serious ethnoculinary books, but easy to dazzle with.

This book has an amazing variety of great recipes from many parts of the world. There are many new and unusual recipes in every section :finger foods, soups, curries, starters, meats, noodles, desserts etc. Each section also has short essays which give you an introduction to unique qualities of the food, ingredients and recipes in the area that relate to this section. This rounds out this great book with historical, geographic, culinary and gastronomic information. The instructions and recipes are clear and easy to understand. Most of the ingredients are ones you can find locally. While I have many still to try, these recipes have garnered my endorsement: stir fried spinach (9.6/10); eggplant curry (9.6/10); BBQ red snapper (9.8/10); grilled herb steak (9.8/10;marinated fish (9.5/10). I already have at least a dozen other recipes I want to try immediately. Get this book if you want to try some recipes from around the world. You will be glad you did.

I love to cook, and have a number of cookbooks. Over the last four years, I have turned to "Terrific Pacific" 9 out of 10 times. Most Asian cookbooks are too frequently focused on one style, assume you know everything about the mysterious, or unfamiliar ingredients cited, and don't make you feel the recipes are accessible. "Terrific Pacific" is, in my opinion, a new classic. If you are interested in Pacific Rim cooking, this is a great place to start. You will develop a comfort level with fresh, interesting ingredients, and an appreciation for clean, lovely food from the other side of the planet. With a new vocabulary of ingredients, I have also had fun changing/developing recipes of my own. Kudos to Anya von Bremzen.

I found Asian cooking to be slightly intimidating since the ingredients were unfamiliar and the process usually lengthy. But after working with a few of the recipies presented here, they looked harder than they actually were.

Admittedly the first time I prepared one of the dishes, it took forever. It turned out great. And the reason it looked complicated and took me so long was the excellent job the authors were doing in thoroughly explaining the process. A simple recipe that may have taken me an hour the first time, now takes 15 minutes . . . and tastes fantastic.

It's a good cookbook with some interesting recipes with detailed instructions.

I own about 200 cookbooks; this is the best.